Transcription

All software offered on this site allows you to enter Mari texts in Cyrillic or Latin.

If you are using a Cyrillic layout that does not contain the Mari letters, you can download and install a layout that does here. If you cannot do this, you can represent the special Mari characters by placing columns or apostrophes after а, о, у, ы and н.

Target

Input Possibility 1

Input Possibility 2

тӱҥжӧ

ту:н:жо:

ту'н'жо'

нӹлӹтӓн

ны:лы:та:н

ны'лы'та'н

If you are using a Latin layout, and cannot install a Mari layout (see here), stick to the following transcription scheme. Note that, a 1:1 relationship between Mari and Latin characters is not possible – the letter combination sh, for example, will be transcribed as ш. If you actually wish to have s and h transcribed individually – i.e. "сх" – place a vertical bar between the two letters, i.e. s|h.

Note how this transcription system offers many possibilities to obtain different characters that are more or less relevant for users of different keyboard layouts.

The transcription system was chosen as a "compromise" between orthographies used by different European languages, such as English, German, Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian. Some conflicts occur as a result, e.g. regarding the letters j and y, that mark completely different sounds in different languages.

а - a

и - i

ö - ö, o:, o'

ч - č, tš, tsh, ch

ӓ - ä, a:, a'

й - j

п - p

ш - š, sh

б - b

к - k

р - r

щ - šč, štš, shch, shtsh

в - v, w

л - l

с - s

ъ - *

г - g

(ль - lj, l')

т - t

ы - y, õ

д - d

м - m

у - u

ӹ - y:, õ:

е - je, e1

н - n

ӱ - ü, u:, u'

ь - '

ё - e:, 'jo'2

(нь - nj, n')

ф - f

э - e1, e'

ж - ž, zh

ҥ - ng3, n:, n'

х - h, x

ю – ju, 'u

з - z

о - o

ц - c, ts

я – ja, 'a

1: For the usage of the letters э and е, see the Introduction of our Textbook offered on this website. When entering data in Latin, you must keep /j/s that are only indirectly marked in orthography in mind – "shuem" will be transcribed as шуэм, "shujem" as шуем.

2: The Cyrillic letter "ё" /jo/ is only used in a select few Russian loanwords, /jo/ is written as йо in Mari words. As this letter combination is considerably more common, "jo" is transcribed as йо. If you actually wish to obtain a ё, write "e:" or put jo into single quotes: 'jo'.

3: To obtain the letter combination ҥг, you must either type two gs (e.g. tengge → теҥге) or place a colon after the n (e.g. ten:ge → теҥге). If you wish to create the letter combination нг, place a vertical bar between the n and the g: n|g.

Target

Input Possibility 1

Input Possibility 2

Input Possibility 3

тӱҥжӧ

tüngzhö

tüngžö

tu:n:zho:

нӹлӹтӓн

ny:ly:ta:n

nõ:lõ:ta:n

ny:lyta:n

Unmarked palatalization (a topic covered in the Introduction of our Textbook) can in certain situations be relevant to software found on this website. For example, the Morphological Generator needs to know that the word имне – horse – is pronounced as /imn'e/, and not /imne/, if it wishes to form the correct genitive form – имньым (/imn'ǝm/) – where the palatalization is marked. In such cases, place a dollar sign $ after the consonant in question – i.e. enter "имне" as "imn$e" or "имн$е".